There are numerous nursing bra designs which have attempted to provide for conveniently breast feeding infants. Such designs have been in the general form of traditional bras with “hinged” breast cups. These designs have attempted to allow a measure of convenience to the mother, by permitting her to nurse her child without the need to remove the entire garment.
However, none of the prior nursing bra designs have been incorporated into bikini type garments due to the differences between traditional garment designs on the one hand and bikini designs on the other. In particular, breast cup, under wire/supporting wire and straps have differed between the two garment types.
For example, traditional nursing bra designs often utilize clasps for retaining the breast cup in its non-feeding position. These clasps can be difficult to use and may be visually unappealing. Furthermore, clasps often require two hands for operation, and often expose for feeding less than the whole breast.
Traditional nursing bras are usually “hinged” at the bottom of the breast cup and clasped at the top, and thus require women to lift pullover type (i.e., non-button-down) garments completely over the breast to place the bra into feeding position. This arrangement may lead to public exposure of the woman's breast due to the opposite direction of breast cup movement vs. garment movement required to place the breast in feeding position (i.e., the downward movement of the hinged breast cup as opposed to the upward movement of the garment). Many women find this awkward, and more modest women may consider it undesirable.
Bikini type nursing bras may provide alternative opening means (i.e., means for exposing the breast for nursing) which avoid such clasps, making the bikini style nursing bra more discrete and attractive. They also may be operated with one hand (e.g., by one-handedly sliding a breast cup). Furthermore, because bikini style nursing bras excluded clasps and other hardware, they may be more suited for use as bras after a woman is no longer nursing. Bikini type nursing bras also may be conveniently used with all types of garments by eliminating the “opposite movement” problem discussed above.
Finally, the manufacture of traditional nursing bras require significantly more fabric than comparable bikini style nursing bras.
Therefore, while prior nursing bra designs have in essence fulfilled their objectives and requirements, the need remains for a nursing bra which provides the support and other application specific design elements of nursing bras with those of bikinis.